So, in other words, both actors would not only be open to a longer “DAYS” return, they hope for it! “It was always, for me, a really fabulous job,” Shaughnessy shares. “Really fun people, and if it wasn’t fun, I would say absolutely not [to returning]. But… I enjoy it. It’s very fast, and you have to be on your toes. You don’t hang about, you’re out of the studio quickly. And so yeah, I’ve always said it was a fun gig, and I’d be happy to come back, if it fits in, obviously if I’m not busy or doing anything else. But in principle, having spent those eight years on the character, it would be nice to rework the character.”
Pease agrees that a more in-depth return would be nice, especially considering there was confusion as to whether or not their alter egos were back together or not! “I asked, because we had that wedding ring thing,” she reveals. “I was concerned about that, about whether or not I was supposed to wear a wedding ring, so I asked, and they came back to me and they said no.”
“So apparently, we are still divorced then,” Shaughnessy clarifies. “And we never address it, and we certainly don’t say, ‘Let’s get remarried,’ so I’m assuming we are still divorced. They just didn’t really deal with it, and that’s where I feel it’s not fair for the fans. [It seems a bit of a tease to] not even deal with who we are to each other as characters.”
But, as Pease points out with a laugh: “A spark wasn’t exactly an appropriate thing to have in the middle of your daughter killing herself! So as much as we could in the situation, we had appropriate sparks.”
“Days of our Lives” aside, both Pease and Shaughnessy have been enjoying their freedom and the different paths their careers have them taken them. Pease now lives in Florida, a bold move she made two years ago. “I gave away everything I owned; the rule was, if it doesn’t fit in a backpack, it doesn’t go,” she recalls of the decision. “So we put everything in backpacks except for our two dogs, and we drove 3,500 miles, and we really didn’t have a great idea of where we were going to end up! And it’s been the greatest adventure. There’s a part of you that likes a steady job, but I love the freedom that I’ve had touring this country. I said I’d go to the Grand Canyon, I said I’d go to New Orleans, and I said I’d go to the Appalachian mountains, but I never did. And I knew getting older, it’s harder to change, so there was a window of opportunity, and it was closing. I had a very narrow area to jump through, and I knew if I didn’t jump then, I never would!”
Shaughnessy is also enjoying freedom, albeit in a very different way. “I have to say, even though there isn’t the security of an ongoing job, I love patching together a career out of all sorts of different things, like a little voiceover here, a commercial there, a little indie movie and a little play and a little guest spot on ‘NCIS’ or something. It’s kind of fun to do all of these different things,” he says. “There’s a Nickelodeon series I did a guest spot for called ‘Deadtime Stories,’ which airs [tonight], and it’s a terrific show. And there’s another thing, which I also think is terrific, an Internet show. You can go to WorldOfSnark.com and check it out. I think it’s a fabulous little webisodic idea, but like everything on the internet, it’s impossible to find funding for these things. But I still think it’s a fantastic project, something I made about a year ago, that I hope will turn into something.”
And if not, he says there will always be a new adventure on the horizon. “I have a number of phrases I throw out, and one of them is lean forward,” he shares. “I think that is so important, to lean into that space in life and whatever comes up, whatever adventure comes up, that’s life. Things happen out of left field all of the time, and if you sit back thinking that you’re in steady place, it’s going to surprise you. So you may as well go looking for the surprises, go looking for the adventure.”
To catch Pease and Shaugnessy in Salem, tune into “Days of our Lives” on Monday, November 18, Tuesday, November 19 and Wednesday, November 20.